Jenbacher Uses Coal Bed Methane

Posted on February 15, 2011

The first coal-bed-methane (CBM) to energy project in Russia celebrated its grand opening at Kuzbasskaya Energosetevaya Compania’s Talda site, located near Kemerovo. The gas comes from test drills that energy company Gazprom is conducting to capture the huge reserves of CBM in this traditional coal mining region.

A 1 MW J320 Jenbacher gas engine from GE powers this project, using the gas to provide electricity, which is sold to the grid. The contract was provided in September 2010 to INTMA, GE’s official distributor and service partner in Russia for its Jenbacher product line.

GE’s J320 gas engine technology has been used in power projects from various types of coal seam gases (coal-mine-methane, abandoned-mine-methane and CBM) around the world. The engines have the potential to generate more than 3 million MW of electricity per year, saving about 830 million m³ of natural gas a year, GE said. The engines also reduce CO2 emissions by about 30 000 tons a year, according to GE.